NSE's listing moment is almost upon us as India's biggest exchange gears up to list on rival BSE on Thursday, September 24, after a massive response to its share sale. But investors hoping to make a quick buck on their IPO investment might have to tone down expectations.
The ₹22,562-crore NSE IPO is the biggest public issue this year so far and the second-largest ever after Hyundai's ₹27,870 crore offer. The grey market premium (GMP) for NSE shares is at ₹68 apiece, down from ₹310 ahead of the offer launch, according to data available on websites tracking the unofficial market.

At the prevailing GMP, NSE shares could list at ₹1,853, a premium of just 3.8 per cent against the IPO price of ₹1,785. Swastika's head of wealth, Shivani Nyati, said that NSE could see minor listing gains, but the "IPO remains suitable for long-term investment", supported by its strong market position, scale and relative valuation advantage.
The brokerage had assigned a 'subscribe' rating to the IPO. At ₹1,700–1,785, the IPO is valued at around 40.9x–42.9x FY26 diluted EPS, at a discount to BSE’s 54.28x, offering valuation support, she said. However, around 79 per cent of revenue is linked to trading activity, making earnings sensitive to market volumes and regulatory changes.

The IPO saw bids for 505.8 million shares against 88.6 million shares on offer, BSE data shows. The QIB portion was booked 12.68 times, while the non-institutional investors' (NII) segment also saw strong traction, subscribing 6.55 times their reserved quota of 18.9 million shares.
Retail individual investors ended up bidding for 61.3 million shares against a reserved quota of 44.1 million shares, translating into 1.39x subscription. The price band was set at ₹1700 to ₹1785 apiece, and lot size was of eight shares for retail investors.

With its leadership position, strong brand, technological capabilities and expanding capital-market ecosystem, NSE remains well positioned to capture the long-term growth opportunity in India’s financial markets, analysts at Ventura stated in their IPO review note.
Meanwhile, Choice had said that there is no other way to own Indian market infrastructure at this scale. "The issue is priced at 47.3x TTM earnings. BSE, the only listed comparable, trades higher at 48.9x — on a business less than a third of NSE’s size, and on profits helped by the very options volumes NSE has lost.

What that price buys is market infrastructure with no real substitute," it observed.